Babel Media, a Brighton-based firm that localises and tests video games and interactive entertainment, has been acquired by India’s Quatrro BPO for an undisclosed amount. New York investment group DE Shaw has also taken a minority stake of around five to 10 percent and is providing leverage finance for the acquisition. Estimates on the sale price from industry sources swing wildly, from $25-$30 million in India’s Business Standard to $100-120 million in the Indian Times.
What is clear is that it’s the sixth and the biggest acquisition to date for Raman Roy-led Quatrro BPO, a diversified services company that operates in areas from accounting to tech support. Nine-year-old Babel, which offers user testing and quality assurance, ranked 60th in 2007’s Sunday Times Tech Track 100 list of fastest-growing UK tech companies. According to a PricewaterhouseCoopers report, the gaming industry in India is set to grow to $68 billion by 2012. Babel, which provides games-focused localisation, certification, audio and print services across platforms, has 500 employees at Brighton(UK), Los Angeles, Montreal and New Delhi. More at our sister site contentSutra.com…